O'Donnell makes history by winning third term on Long Beach council

LONG BEACH — Fourth District City Councilman Patrick O'Donnell made history Tuesday night, winning a third term by defeating opponent Daryl Supernaw. | PHOTOS

With all precincts reporting, O'Donnell had 56.1 percent of the vote to Supernaw's 43.9 percent, according to unofficial final results from the City Clerk's Office.

Turnout in the race was 18.9 percent in the Los Altos-centered district.

O'Donnell is a high school teacher who has made public safety and infrastructure a priority in his council career.

The candidates couldn't immediately be reached for comment by press deadline.

O'Donnell's victory ended a rocky fight for the seat that began with the incumbent announcing a write-in campaign to keep his position.

Just 13 votes separated the pair following a recount after the April 10 primary, with Supernaw placing first. Retired Long Beach police officer John Watkins finished third, 39 votes behind O'Donnell.

Powerful interest groups in Long Beach, including the city's police and fire unions, aligned behind O'Donnell, spending heavily to back him in the waning weeks of the campaign.

Supernaw, a business marketing consultant and community activist, accepted no money from political action committees and had collected $7,296 in donations this year to O'Donnell's $65,966, according to finance records.

Though they were once community partners - O'Donnell and Supernaw worked together in an effort to fill the Atherton Ditch, a longtime community hazard - as election opponents, the candidates clashed as the campaign turned bitter.

In one memorable exchange, O'Donnell broke the rules of a neighborhood forum in which participants were not to address one another and accused Supernaw of lacking personality. Both subsequently accused each other of campaigning negatively.

Long Beach voters instituted a two-term limit in 1992, but allowed officeholders to seek a third term as a write-in candidate.

The law was amended in 2007 to permit candidates who survive the city's April primary to have their name printed on the June runoff ballot.

Previously, three council members have tried to win a third term.

Jackie Kell, Val Lerch and Tonia Reyes Uranga each failed at their efforts.

Kell came closest to victory, in 2006, losing by 247 votes to Gerrie Schipske. Reyes Uranga's write-in effort did advance her to the runoff, but then she lost.

Former Mayor Beverly O'Neill won a third term in 2002 purely as a write-in candidate.